Earlier this month, Google acquired Zagat, the restaurant guide known for its short quotes. The acquisition makes Google's priority clear: reviews.
Around the dive shops in Bali, this trend is already well established. The brochure has lost most of its influence, whether the printed version on the hotel rack or its online counterpart, the website. Divers have made their decision before they consult either one.
They have read the reviews.
For travellers, the main platform is TripAdvisor. From a hostel, laptop in hand, they open the list of dive centres in the area, read the top results and make their choice. Dive forums also play a role. Google, for its part, is promoting its own reviews on Places pages. Since July, those pages no longer show snippets from other review sites, only reviews written directly on Google. Many small businesses have not yet noticed this change.
Why have online reviews replaced the brochure?
A brochure is the business talking about itself, and everyone knows it. "Friendly, professional staff." "Unforgettable experiences." Every shop makes these claims, and they no longer persuade anyone.
A review comes from someone who paid and has no reason to lie; at least, that is how readers perceive it. When a stranger writes that their instructor was patient with a nervous first-timer and that the boat crew served fresh tea between dives, that testimony is worth more than anything the shop could write about itself.
The operators who understand this are pulling ahead, not because they offer better dives, but because they ask for reviews. Some of the best dive teams observed here are nearly invisible online because they have never asked for a single review.
How can you ask for reviews naturally?
This is where most small businesses get stuck. They hesitate to ask, and so they do not. The only people who write reviews are then the very satisfied and the very dissatisfied, and the latter generally respond faster.
The effective method is simple: ask the same day.
After the last dive, back at the shop, with logbooks signed and everyone in good spirits, the timing is ideal. A week later, the guest is home, back at work, and writing the review has slipped down their list of tasks. On the same day, the experience is still vivid.
Here are a few useful practices:
- A small card with the shop's name exactly as it appears on TripAdvisor, so guests find the right listing.
- A follow-up email that evening with a direct link. One link, not five.
- Staff asking in person, using the guest's name. "Would you mind writing a few lines about today?" is more effective than a sign on the wall.
- Now that Google shows only its own reviews on Places pages, ask some of your guests for a Google review as well.
Ask every guest, not only those who appear satisfied. Selective requests are noticeable: a page where every review is glowing immediately raises suspicion.
How should you respond to negative reviews?
Calmly and publicly. This is the part owners dread. A one-star review appears, it seems unfair, and the first instinct is to respond by correcting every detail.
We advise against this. If a reply is written in the heat of the moment, it is best to delete it and step back before writing another.
The author of the negative review is unlikely to change their mind. The reply is addressed instead to the next hundred people who will read the review before deciding whether to book. They want to see how the business responds when something goes wrong.
A good reply is short. Thank the person for the feedback. Acknowledge what actually went wrong, where applicable. State what you have changed, if anything. Offer to continue the conversation privately. Avoid arguing, sarcasm and lengthy justifications.
In our observation, a calm, honest reply to a one-star review does more for a business's reputation than a series of five-star reviews. Customers trust a business that takes responsibility for its mistakes. If TripAdvisor is your main platform, TripAdvisor's pages for business owners are worth reading before writing your first reply.
Should you respond to positive reviews as well?
Yes, and this step is often overlooked. A brief, personal thank-you on positive reviews shows that a real person reads them. Mention a specific detail from the review. Avoid posting the same "Thanks for your kind words!" under every one, as the repetition is noticeable.
How should you use real reviews on your own website?
The final step is to bring the reviews onto your site. A booking page with three or four short, real quotes from recent guests (first name, where they are from, when they visited) is more persuasive than any sales copy.
The key word is "real". Reproduce them exactly, without embellishment, and never invent any. Keep them recent, because a review from three years ago next to this year's prices creates a mismatch. Finally, link to the full listing so that anyone with doubts can read the rest.
How should you handle reviews in several languages?
This is a weekly observation: guests in Bali come from around the world and write reviews in their own languages, whether English, German, French or Japanese. Most shops reply to everything in English, or reply only to the English reviews.
Where possible, reply in the language the person used. It is a small detail that shows respect, and the next reader from that country will notice it. In Canada, the situation is the same with French and English, and many businesses there do not take it into account either. If writing good replies in two languages is a challenge, it is a task for a professional in bilingual copywriting, not for a translation tool.
These practices are not spectacular, but they remain among the most effective a small business can adopt online at present.